Relief packages fall into wrong hands

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hundreds of evicted people from Cengkareng Timur, West Jakarta, staged a rally on Monday at the office of the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare in Central Jakarta, protesting the alleged misappropriation of relief packages by officers of West Jakarta Social Agency and Cengkareng Timur subdistrict office.

"The secretary of the office of the coordinating minister, Sutejo, told us that his office would replace the 190 misappropriated packages and would involve us in the distribution," Marlo Sitompul, coordinator of the Coalition of Evicted People, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The evictees also demanded that the coordinating minister's office and the social affairs ministry investigate the case.

A series of evictions in the last two months have prompted several government institutions to distribute relief packages.

Marlo said that the misappropriated packages were allegedly handed out by the social agency and subdistrict offices to non- evicted people in Cengkareng Timur. The packages consisted of two blankets, a sarong, 30 kilograms of rice and Rp 300,000 (US$35).

The Coalition of Evicted People managed to secure the remaining 100 packages but were yet to distribute them. They said that the number of packages was far less than the number of evictees. Therefore, distributing them would only result in further disputes.

Marlo said that the evictees had asked coordinating minister Jusuf Kalla during an earlier protest to distribute the packages directly to them. They also demanded that temporary shelters be provided before they could secure a place to settle.

A similar outcome was experienced by evicted fishermen families in Muara Angke, North Jakarta, last week.

They said that most of the relief packages donated by the social affairs ministry last month had been received by non- evicted people.

"The officers required the evictees to show Jakarta ID cards upon receiving the packages. Most of us don't have one," said one of the evictees, Munaroh. "Many people living near our demolished houses showed their Jakarta ID cards to the officers and got the packages."

They claimed that they had applied for ID cards several times but were turned down by the subdistrict officers as they lived on riverbanks.